Your first export from BiH as a small producer: UIO entry, EX 1 declaration, papers

Before your first export, your business must be entered with the Indirect Taxation Authority (Uprava za indirektno oporezivanje, UIO) on the basis of foreign trade. After that, every commercial shipment is cleared with an EX 1 export declaration. Below are the steps for a producer sending goods abroad for the first time. Individual papers are covered in more detail in the separate articles named in the steps.

In short

• A person doing foreign trade is entered in UIO's Single Register of Indirect Tax Payers (Jedinstveni registar obveznika indirektnih poreza). You apply on form ZR1 to the UIO regional centre for your seat. This is a separate basis of entry, not the same as VAT registration.
• Each shipment is cleared with an EX 1 declaration at the customs office responsible for the place where the exporter is registered or where the goods are packed or loaded. The Trebinje customs post (Carinska ispostava Trebinje) belongs to the UIO Regional Centre Mostar.
• An oral declaration, made at the exit customs office, is possible only for goods up to 500 KM per consignment and declarant, under further conditions. It does not apply to goods that need permits or certificates, so for food and plants expect to lodge a written EX 1.
• Copy 3 of the declaration, stamped at the exit customs office, is your proof that the goods really left. The burden of proof is on the exporter.
• An EORI number is needed only in EU states, not in BiH. Usually the EU buyer or forwarder lodges the EU declaration.

Who it applies to

Anyone exporting goods commercially from BiH: farmers, processors, rakija makers, winemakers and caterers who send goods to a buyer abroad. The exporter is the person on whose account the declaration is lodged and who owns the goods or has the right to dispose of them. If the owner is outside BiH, the contracting party registered in BiH counts as the exporter.

For foreign trade, UIO enters a person who is registered with a court or another competent authority and holds a decision allowing that activity. So for exports you need a registered business, a sole trader or a company. Ask the UIO regional centre before the first shipment whether an entry in the farm register (Registar poljoprivrednih gazdinstava) is enough. Registering a business is covered in the article on registering a sole trader or company, and VAT registration in the article on VAT registration with UIO.

What to do

1. Check that the registration decision of your business covers foreign trade. If it does not, ask the authority where you are registered how to extend it.
2. Submit form ZR1 to UIO for entry on the basis of foreign trade. Attach, as copies with the originals shown or as certified copies: the decision of the competent authority for foreign trade activity, the registration certificate from the Tax Administration of Republika Srpska (Poreska uprava Republike Srpske, if your tax number is not in the court registration decision), the bank signature card and the notice of your main account, and the ID cards of the owner and responsible persons. Certified copies may not be older than 60 days. If the same application also asks for VAT registration, shared documents are attached only once.
3. Check the requirements of the target market and whether your goods are allowed there at all. The Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH (Spoljnotrgovinska/Vanjskotrgovinska komora BiH) offers a service called "Requirements of the foreign market for my product" and publishes country profiles.
4. Find the tariff code of your goods in the BiH Customs Tariff. You need it to fill in the declaration.
5. Collect the papers your goods need. Depending on the product, these are a phytosanitary certificate, a veterinary-health certificate or a permit from a competent authority. For plants, fruit and vegetables, see the article on the phytosanitary certificate. For meat, milk and honey, see the article on exporting food of animal origin to the EU. The Veterinary Office of BiH (Kancelarija za veterinarstvo BiH) publishes veterinary certificate models for exports to individual countries on its website.
6. If the buyer wants proof of origin, see the article on proof of origin for exports to the EU (EUR.1 or origin declaration). The Chamber also issues a Certificate of Origin for non-preferential trade, Form A and ATA carnets. Apply online at javnidokumenti.komorabih.ba after registering with an email address and password. Prices are in the Chamber's price list.
7. Lodge the EX 1 export declaration on the JCI form at the competent customs office. Attach the papers needed for your goods: invoice, delivery note or packing list, transport document, certificates and permits, and proof of origin. You may use a forwarder or representative. Ask the customs post or your forwarder how the declaration is submitted in practice and what it may cost.
8. Once customs releases the goods, you get copy 3 of the declaration back. The goods may leave through any border crossing open to international goods traffic, unless a specific crossing is set for them, for example in a permit.
9. At the exit customs office, show the goods and copy 3. The officer confirms the actual exit with a note on the back. Keep that copy. It is your evidence for customs control, VAT and trade-policy measures.

When something goes differently

• If the goods left without an EX 1 declaration, the exporter submits it afterwards to the customs office of the place of registration, with evidence of the kind and quantity of goods and of the circumstances of the exit.
• If the goods were not exported, tell the export customs office at once and return copy 3 and the documents you received, including EUR.1 if one was issued.
• If you cannot show a stamped copy 3 during a customs control, customs will ask you to prove that the goods left, within a period of no less than one month, which can be extended at your request. Since the 2022 amendment, the proof can be the customs declaration of the importing or transit country (original or certified copy). If there is none, a commercial or transport document certified by that country's customs or by the consignee is accepted. Such proof counts only if it clearly shows that these are the same goods and the exit customs office has a record that the goods left BiH.

Deadlines and amounts

• Oral declaration: at most 500 KM per consignment and declarant. The consignment may not be part of a regular series of similar ones, and the goods may not be carried by an independent carrier as part of a larger load.
• A letter or postal parcel with goods worth up to 20 KM in total is treated as declared simply by crossing the border. A legal entity sending goods by post lodges an EX 1. The same applies to a commercial postal consignment above 500 KM, to a regular series of consignments and to goods that need a permit or certificate.
• Copies of documents for UIO entry: certification no older than 60 days.
• Time to prove exit when customs asks: no less than one month.

EORI number

EORI is an identification number for businesses in EU customs. According to a UIO notice from 2013, it is not needed for customs procedures in BiH. You need it only if your BiH business itself takes part in an EU customs procedure, for example by lodging an entry security declaration or starting a transit procedure with a TIR carnet. In practice this is done by the EU buyer or an EU-based forwarder, who already have an EORI. The registration procedure is set by the customs of the EU member state. The notice is not recent, so confirm this with your forwarder or buyer.

Where to go

• UIO Regional Centre Mostar, for entry on the basis of foreign trade and for customs questions. The Trebinje customs post belongs to this regional centre. Before the first shipment, check which customs office is competent for your seat or place of loading. General UIO contact: info@uino.gov.ba, tel. +387 51 335 131, Bana Lazarevića bb, 78000 Banja Luka.
• Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH, office in Mostar (Dr. Ante Starčevića, 88000 Mostar, tel. +387 36 333 651) or in Banja Luka (Vidovdanska 2B, tel. +387 51 227 680). Entry in the Directory of BiH Exporters is voluntary and is used for promotion.
• Veterinary Office of BiH, Maršala Tita 9a/II, Sarajevo, for veterinary certificate models: www.vet.gov.ba.

Laws and sources

• Instruction on the export procedure (Službeni glasnik BiH 73/06 and 35/22)
• Amendments to the Instruction on the export procedure (Službeni glasnik BiH 35/22)
• Rulebook on registration in the Single Register of Indirect Tax Payers (Službeni glasnik BiH 51/12)
• Amendments to the Rulebook on registration (Službeni glasnik BiH 68/16)
• List of documents for a registration application (UIO)
• UIO notice on the EORI number
• Documents issued by the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH
• Exporting or planning to export? (Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH)
• Veterinary certificates (Veterinary Office of BiH)